Feminist Objections to Kantian, Utilitariansism, and Egoism

Many feminists have problems or objections to Kantian morals, utilitarian ideas, and egoism. The feminist morals are based on care and equality. Many of these ethics have a lot of problems when relating to a feminist.

Feminists have a lot of objections to Kantian morals. For example, there is too much emphasis on duty. For example, a feminist might argue that because feminists emphasize care so much, duty can sometimes overshadow care. Also, science is extremely important in feminism. Kant believes that science is not important where it is a defense in many cases of feminism.

Feminism also has many objections to utilitarianism. Sometimes it is more difficult to see the greater good in things. This also could interrupt the care for someone. For example, the Terri Schiavo case. The husband might feel it is his "duty" to let her die because he thinks she has suffered or didn't want to be alive too long. It seems that the greater good would be to let her live and then her family would be happy, plus there are a lot of other people in the country that seem to have wanted her to live. This also interfered with the care of Mrs. Schiavo. Also in utilitarianism it says that contracts can be broken to bring about the greater good. If Terri Schiavo had made a living contract saying that she wanted to stay alive under any circumstances and he broke that contract. Then it would completely reject the feminists approach having to do with care. Also sacrificing others can be brutalizing and degrading. I am sure that Mr. Schiavo the husband is being degraded by family members and brutalized over his decision.

Feminists also have some objections to egoism. Egoism makes giving advice in certain situations not valid or even impossible. Let us say that there is an egoist deciding whether or not to take his/her sick friend to the doctor. He/She would probably decide not to because he/she doesn't want to get sick....

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...﻿Ethics Assignment Two
Part 1
1.
In its simplest form, altruism is selflessness, the concern for the wellbeing of others above oneself. “Altruism is the idea that we have obligations to other people and should act for the benefit of society. Unselfishness is seen as a desirable virtue in our society and is central to many religions as well as secular beliefs.
The idea of altruism is a sharp contrast to the belief that we should ‘look out for number one’. This ‘bumper sticker’ promotes selfishness, the opposite of the desirable virtue that is altruism. This is known as egoism. Ultimately, this means that we should act in our best interests, only perform acts that benefit or will benefit ourselves.
2.
“Ethical egoism is different to what we might call egotism”, the idea that we should act in ways that benefit us immediately. In Ayn Rand’s view, egotism is natural, what all people should live by and altruism is irrational. Our primary goal in life is to live and to live well, it is natural to want to enhance and prolong your existence, “all living things, in the way they are put together, move toward this goal”. To use an example from the text, “when the lion approaches, Bambi runs. Bambi does not know why he runs, but his instincts for self-preservation may save his life. Nature teaches us that life strives to preserve itself”
It is for this reason that Rand promotes egotism, “we cannot assign value to anything if we are not alive, so...

...﻿ETHICS INTERNET
Egoism
Reading Assignment: MacKinnon, Chapter 3
Thomas Hobbes, Self Love, pg. 45
Plato, Conclusion to the Ring of Gyges
Objectives:
Explain the difference between psychological and ethical egoism;
Discuss the consistency and/or inconsistency of ethical egoism.
Define the moral point of view
List and describe the 3 levels of the soul
Lecture:
EGOISM
What does egoism mean?
A descriptive definition is “a theory that describes what people are like”. This is called psychological egoism. It states that people are basically selfish, self-centered. It is a view about how people behave, why they do what they do.
A normative definition is “a theory that says how people ought to behave.” This is called ethical egoism.
Psychological Egoism
There are two ways to understand psychological egoism. First that people basically act in narrow, short-range ways out of self-interest. Second people act out of self-interest but have broader, long term goals in mind and need to avoid being short sighted. The theory of psychological egoism needs to show that people always act in ways that self-satisfaction is their aim; that people always act to promote their own interests.
Do you think that humans only act for the sake of their own best interest? Or,...

...I cannot help but conclude that Mother Teresa
would have done much more good for the poor
had she become something useful,
like a prostitute or a drug dealer, or better still,
a banker or the head of a multi-national corporation.
-Robert White, in The Diabolical Works of Mother Teresa
Ethical egoism is a normative theory which claims that all persons ought to act out of their own self-interest.
Classification
Ethical egoism can be broadly divided into three categories: individual, personal, and universal. An individual ethical egoist would hold that all people should do whatever benefits them; a personal ethical egoist would hold that he or she should act in his or her self-interest, but would make no claims about what anyone else ought to do; a universal ethical egoist would argue that everyone should act in ways that are in their self-interest.
History
Ethical egoism was introduced by the philosopher Henry Sidgwick in 1874. He compared egoism to the philosophy of utilitarianism, writing that whereas utilitarianism sought to maximize overall pleasure, egoism focused only on maximizing individual pleasure.
Three Arguments in Favor of Ethical Egoism
1. The Argument from Altruism
The "argument from altruism" starts with three assumptions:
We are not situated well with respect to knowing the interests of others. Since we cannot know other's interests, we are likely to...

...Ethical egoism is the normative theory that the promotion of one's own good is in accordance with morality. In the strong version, it is held that it is always moral to promote one's own good, and it is never moral not to promote it. In the weak version, it is said that although it is always moral to promote one's own good, it is not necessarily never moral to not. That is, there may be conditions in which the avoidance of personal interest may be a moral action.
In an imaginary construction of a world inhabited by a single being, it is possible that the pursuit of morality is the same as the pursuit of self-interest in that what is good for the agent is the same as what is in the agent's interests. Arguably, there could never arise an occasion when the agent ought not to pursue self-interest in favor of another morality, unless he produces an alternative ethical system in which he ought to renounce his values in favor of an imaginary self, or, other entity such as the universe, or the agent's God. Opponents of ethical egoism may claim, however, that although it is possible for this Robinson Crusoe type creature to lament previous choices as not conducive to self-interest (enjoying the pleasures of swimming all day, and not spending necessary time producing food), the mistake is not a moral mistake but a mistake of identifying self-interest. Presumably this lonely creature will begin to comprehend the distinctions between short, and...

...Deontological Egoism avoid all the problems that confront unconstrained ethical egoism? In this essay I will argue that Deontological Egoism can rescue Unconstrained Ethical Egoism from a large number of its problems and that DE offers a more plausible and attractive Egoism theory Understanding Moral theories The goal of a moral theory is to meet certain moral principles. Various principles are argued for to be included as moral principles within a workable moral theory. We therefore can analyze the specific moral theories of Ethical Egoism and Deontological Egoism which fall under the umbrella of the Egoism class of theories and see if they take into account certain moral principles that are important in order for a theory to be plausible Unconstrained Ethical Egoism One is required to pursue one's own interests and one has no duties to the interests of others, so the foundation of one's morality in this theory is the regard of one's own self-interests as superior.Ethical Egoism is a normative moral theory, i.e. it is prescriptive and tells one what one ought to do. Normative theories offer guidance in our decisions and judgements. What are one's obligations and duties in particular situations? [2] Ethical egosim is in contrast to psychological egoism, which is a descriptive theory of psychological facts that states that...

...Kantian Ethics and Ethics of Care in Feminism Moral Reasoning
I would choose to use a feeding tube on Rosemary if I am her doctor since her Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) order is not really applicable in her current situation. Usually people sign DNAR to deny intensive life-extending medical treatments and to avoid suffering from unnecessary pain at the end of his/her own life, however Rosemary is not dying but “listless and non-communicative” in this case and the feeding tube here cannot considered to be intensive, but more likely an ordinary medical treatment to ensure daily nutrition supplies; removing the feeding tube would result in her death from starvation. In this paper, my argument would based on the ethics of care, as it appears to be the most compatible moral theory with the case.
The core of ethics of care puts the vital interest of the patients as the priority. When argument takes place, people who are mostly related to the patients would actually plan and think for the patients for their own good. Eva Kittay, a feminist philosopher, refers “dependency relations/workers” rather than “maternal relations”, that a close relative, friend or paid worker who assumes daily responsibility for a dependent's survival and is obligated to the dependent because she is best suited to meet the dependent's needs. 1 Derived and developed from feminist ethics, the ethics of care include “virtues of kindness,...

...Love Your Neighbor As Yourself: Response to Ethical Egoism
PHIL-122
22 March 2013
We are often taught at an early age that when struggling to make a decision to “let our consciences be our guides”. Conscience can be defined as our adherence to moral principles, or our considerations of fairness and justice. The word “consideration” is used because every individual has their own standards for what they feel to be morally right versus what they feel to be morally wrong, however this concept is not as black and white as it may seem.
We accredit our moral considerations to many external and internal factors. An example of an external factor is government laws because they are predetermined rules about behavior and action that have been societally deemed as morally wrong. Laws are based on sociological mores, which follow a culture’s commonly shared and widely observed moral behavior, therefore breaking a law implies going against the proper code your society. Prison also has an external influence on our decision making because it serves as a threat for the negative consequences of disobeying laws, such as the loss of our freedom. Internal factors are our own self-value and personal virtues as well as our sense of selfishness and our concerns of morality.
Ethical egoism is the philosophical belief that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest because that is the rational way to live. It contrasts with the theory...

...Ethics paper
Psychological egoism is the idea that people do everything with self-interest as their main motivator. If people help others, so even when people are being altruistic they are ultimately doing so because of the gain that they expect to get in one way or another. Psychological egoism is also a theoretical form of egoism because it describes only what is observed and not the way it is supposed to be like in a normative egoism. Thomas Hobbes felt that without some sort of supreme ruler people would live in constant violence because of his theory of psychological egoism stating that people would revert to a state of nature without some sort or ruler because everyone is ultimately selfish and there would be nothing to distinguish between people’s belongings.
Ethical egoism is a normative form of egoism because it describes something that we should do. Ethical egoism states that everyone should act in their own best interest. Ayn Rand however believed in a theory called objective ethics or rational self-interest egoism. She believed that people are rational beings and therefore should act in their best interest. Rand said that being irrational is a bad thing because it goes against survival. Rand said that following rationality involves being independent, having integrity to your self and your beliefs, be truthful and humble,...